I am only sort of bitter about DL having led the devaluation wave of miles/award travel across the airline FFP industry. And even that has made me money, so can’t really feel bitter about that either.
After having had many years of DL butter my bread a lot and my being on good terms with many of its senior most corporate execs, managers and internal analysts at its HQ over the years — and that is not as a customer, even as my FFP elite status days started with being a very frequent DL flyer with my daily or double daily weekday runs between DCA and LGA back when DL was close to internationally irrelevant at most of those current DL hubs where SAS is going to have TATL service this year and/or next year —I would like to think I am familiar with how DL does things and what’s in its corporate DNA.
Maybe even most Scandinavians flying SAS to the US on award tickets are not going to connect onwards with DL, but of those who would like to have onward connections, they are going to find DL to be less generous with award availability than UA. And when it comes to CPH-ATL, CPH-MSP, and even CPH-JFK/EWR, those wanting onward award travel on a US partner airline using SAS points are going to run into DL’s award travel pricing games and how DL is far less generous with releasing award space to partner airlines than UA.
If happy visiting ATL, MSP and DTW without onward award flight travel booked using a European airline FFP’s miles/points, then DL being DL won’t hit as hard. But my appreciation for ATL, MSP and DTW as a tourist is such that it would need a car for me to want to not fly onward after a few days (or on most future trips to such DL hubs after the initial one).
